Gun

A hard-rocking Glaswegian band, Gun first came to public attention in 1989 with their striking single "Better Days," a powerful driving rock thrash that stopped just short of the Top 30. "Better Days," along with follow-up "Money," formed part of their first album, Taking on the World (number 44). As ever, there have been the usual rock band lineup changes during Gun's recording history: two guitarists and two drummers have passed through, the nucleus being vocalist Mark Rankin and brothers Giuliano and Dante Gizzi (guitar and bass, respectively). Despite some members being 17 (Dante was only 15 at the band's conception), Gun were regarded highly, signing to A&M and covering acts such as Thin Lizzy. In 1992 they returned with another blistering single, "Steal Your Fire." Although a hit, further cuts culled from second album, Gallus, failed to make an impact. Having performed the Cameo classic "Word Up" to positive response live, they released the studio version in July 1994. Their biggest hit to date, it and parent album Swagger, both made the Top Ten (the latter was voted one of Q magazine's albums of the year). After a three-year sabbatical, Gun became G.U.N. According to the band, Gun sounded too '80s. The album 0141 632 6326, named after their information service, was also more poppy than past work due to the arrival of INXS' Andrew Farriss for production duties. The spiky bounce of "Crazy You," an instant airwave favorite, somehow stalled at number 21, while "My Sweet Jane" missed out altogether. Regardless, it's a credit to G.U.N. that they were able to reinvent themselves in an age of retro '60s tribute bands, proof that the late '80s offered more than Stock, Aitken & Waterman one-offs. ~ Kelvin Hayes, Rovi